Tributes to stabbed teenager Amy

TRIBUTES have been paid to a teenage model stabbed to death in Bolton. Amy Leigh Barnes, 19, suffered fatal stab injuries at a relative's home in Farnworth over the weekend. The former pupil at £4,500-a-year Lords Independent School pupil, Bolton, was last year been short-listed for two national modelling contests.

TRIBUTES have been paid to a teenage model stabbed to death in Bolton.

Amy Leigh Barnes, 19, suffered fatal stab injuries at a relative's home in Farnworth over the weekend.

The former pupil at £4,500-a-year Lords Independent School pupil, Bolton, had set her sights on a modelling career, having last year been short-listed for two national modelling contests.

Photographs of Amy had been published in several magazines and she recently started to move in celebrity circles with top Premiership footballers among her friends.

Amy, who called herself Amyleigh for her modelling career, last year reached the final of the Miss British Isles contest. She was also in the top 50 finalists of the prestigious UK Model of the Year contest.

Amy studied performing arts at Salford's Pendleton College as well as volunteering at the Phoenix Drama group, which stages theatre workshops for young people.

Her family, who released a picture of the smiling teenager, described her as a 'beautiful princess' who was loved by relatives and friends. In a statement, they said: "We, as a family, are absolutely distraught and destroyed more than words can say.

"Words cannot express the pain we are in. We loved our baby so much, she was our reason for living. She was the most beautiful princess.

"We will not rest until justice has been done for our gorgeous daughter. Amy was a very special person and much loved by all her family and friends, of which she had many.

"While we appreciate the many tributes to Amy, we would be most grateful to all, to be given time to grieve. Thank you."

Emergency services were called to the property on Moss Street just before noon on Saturday, where they found the teenager covered in blood. She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital but doctors were unable to save her life and she died shortly after arrival.

Police launched an immediate search and have now arrested a 21-year-old man in the West Midlands. The suspect was being taken back to Manchester for questioning by police.

A police mobile incident unit has been set up on the cobbled, terraced street, which was closed to traffic last night. Investigators had previously been at the scene to carry out forensic tests.

One neighbour said: "I saw the ambulance with its light on and six or seven policemen outside the house. I've seen the young girl but I don't know her. It's appalling what's happened."

The teenager is understood to have moved to the area quite recently, having previously lived with mother Karyn and step-dad John Killiner in Egerton.